The Greatest Man Series

way into the life of a real human. If we were to have a high priest who could

understand us and intercede for us, we needed one who had been where we are,

and so knows what the battle really is. The suffering of Jesus was not just the cross,

but the being tempted in every way like we are, but without sin. Not to ever give in

to temptation is a pain we can never know, for all men do give in at some point, but

Jesus never did. To never fail, and to never give in to some temptation out of

God’s will is to live a hard life. We tend to thinks it was a snap to be perfect, but

the fact is, it was the hardest life that could be lived. Jesus lived the greatest life

ever lived, but it was also the hardest ever lived. Try and be perfect for a week, and

you will begin to grasp how impossible it would be to be perfect for 33 years.

Verse 10 tells us that it was through His suffering that He became perfect. You

do not become perfect by avoiding all temptation to do evil. The person who grows

up in isolation and who never has a chance to do anything evil is not the perfect or

ideal person. It is the one who faces the worst that life can throw at them, and yet

stands fast in not yielding to the forces that push and pull toward evil. That is the

life Jesus lived. Heb. 4:15 says He was tempted in every way just as we are, but He

demonstrated that a man can face all temptation and still be faithful to God. Paul

wrote in I Cor. 10:13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to

man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up

under it.”

Men all too seldom call on God in the time of great temptation. It is easier to

just give in, for it is painful to resist. Jesus took full advantage of this promise of

God’s help, and He was able to overcome all temptation. But the point is, it was

suffering that He had to endure, and because He knows the power of temptation

and how difficult it is to resist, He is a more sympathetic High Priest on our behalf.

An alcoholic does not want a teetotaler defending him, and a sinner does not want a

judge who has never struggled with sin. Jesus became a man in all the fulness of

manhood so that He can be the best possible helper that a man can have. He did

not live the perfect life just so He could look down on the rest of mankind as

pathetic wimps. It is true that He is the perfect example that we are to try to

imitate, but the fact is we cannot, and so we need more than a good example. We

need one who could be perfect, but who also knows how difficult it is, and how

great a torture it is to live in the flesh and not submit to the sins of the flesh. We

need a perfect example who is able to love those who are not perfect, and who does

not expect us to be perfect. We need one who can forgive our imperfection and

save us in spite of it. He lived the perfect life so that He could be the perfect

sacrifice that would make it possible to save those who can never be perfect.